wma 7-2.indd - World Medical Association

WMA news
College of Endocrinology and American Association
of Clinical Endocrinologists. The
ACE/AACE Power of Prevention program
was initiated by Dr. Don Bergman. Through
introductions provided by Dr. Yank Coble, I
have discussed with members of the AACE
the possibility of expanding Power of Prevention
to a global level. With the WMA behind
this initiative, healthy lifestyle habits will be
taught to people all over the world. The first
step in this project is translating material that
is already available on the Power of Prevention
website and in their magazines. International
content will then be added to the website,
with some of this content being geared
towards specific countries and some content
applicable to all countries. The AACE and I
are also discussing the possibility of creating
a partnership through an entirely new project
that will focus solely on obesity and diabetes.
Dr. Yank Coble has been an active player in
this collaboration and is currently investigating
avenues for funding of this project as well.
My agenda as president of the WMA also
includes the encouragement of Arab countries
who are not yet involved, or members,
of the WMA to become involved. In this capacity,
I was privileged to attend the March
Meeting of the International Federation of
Medical Student's Associations in Tunisia
this year. I was thoroughly impressed by the
young doctors who organized and attended
the conference. At the conference, I had
the honor of presenting the WMA Medical
Ethics Manual to a young and eager
audience. Unfortunately, while I was there
members of the Tunisian Medical Association
were unable to meet with me, but I
believe the young generation of leaders that
I met will eventually propel their national
medical associations to greater collaboration.
The young generation is interested in
pursuing more global medical collaboration
through organizations such as the WMA.
I look forward to greater cooperation from
these countries in the near future.
More specifically, through some of my contacts
in Israel I have made overtures to contacts
in Tunisia and Morocco in attempt to
greater integrate their medical associations
in the WMA. There are many WMA projects
that they could benefit from participation
in and many other WMA projects
that could benefit from their participation. I
hope that in the near future I will receive responses
and meet with representatives from
the medical associations in Tunisia and Morocco
and be able to report positively back
to the Council.
My presidency has also faced many unique
challenges, primarily because of my Israeli
citizenship. Efforts against me have intensified
in light of the conflict in Gaza this year.
I must assure you all, as President of the
WMA and as President of the Israel Medical
Association since 1995; I have continuously
worked towards bettering the health of Palestinians
with this last conflict in Gaza being
no exception. I have continuously and tirelessly
intervened in cases where a Palestinian
patient was to be evicted from an Israeli hospital
due to lack of funds; intervened, including
by way of petitions to the High Court
of Justice, in situations where Palestinian
patients, physicians or medical students encountered
difficulties at Israeli checkpoints;
and called for funds to be transferred to the
PA in the form of food and medicine so that
help could be given where it is truly needed.
During the recent conflict in Gaza I was in
constant contact with various government
officials in positions to help the Palestinians.
I wrote regarding the restriction of medical
personnel in passing from the West Bank
to their place of work, regarding the humanitarian
situation in the Gaza strip and
regarding the safety of medical personnel in
the Gaza strip. I have done my utmost and
I continue to work for the health of the Palestinians.
That being said, there is nothing
I can do for combatants who target innocents
and use innocents as human shields.
Hamas, a terrorist organization, abhorrently
uses hospitals and schools and even a zoo as
shields. I sincerely hope that all conflicts in
this region and around the world will not
turn to violence. When this happens, we
physicians will be allowed to focus on providing
the highest level of care and not have
to spend so much of our efforts on patching
up wounds inflicted by other people. As
it says in Isaiah 2:4, "Nation shall not lift
up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more."
I look forward to a fruitful Council meeting.
I am proud of the work that the WMA
does and the many ways it affects the medical
community – both globally and the impact
of the WMA on individual physicians
in different countries. Throughout my years
being active in the WMA I have been exposed
to the great impact the WMA makes
and I am proud to be part of it. It is an honour
and a privilege for me to serve as this
year's President and I hope that my work
will contribute to the WMA”.
From the Secretary General’s Reports
1. Policy
Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Project
“The second phase of the Lilly MDR-TB
partnership began in May 2008. The continuation
of this project includes the development
of a TB refresher course for physicians,
which will serve as an introductory
course for the existing MDR-TB course.
The New Jersey Medical School Global
TB Institute has finalised the draft version
of the word document of the TB refresher
course and has send it out to international
TB experts for review. After the review process
the MDR-TB and TB refresher course
will be adjusted in their design and will be
made more interactive with case studies,
videos and more.
WHO recently updated their MDR-TB
guidelines and emphasise now more on
infection control and laboratory diagnosis.
Based on this and on the International
Standards of TB Care we updated our
MDR-TB course as well. The MDR-TB
course has been already translated into
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